*Masters in Musculoskeletal Disorders, Certified Manual Therapist, Graduate & Postgraduate Diploma in Osteopathy & Chiropractic, Head of, Department of Physiotherapy, Arora Orthopedics Hospital, Hisar
**Masters of Physiotherapy in Neurology Disorders, Certified Manual Therapist, Senior consultant Physiotherapist, Tulip Hospital, Sonipat
***Masters in Neurology Disorders, Teaching Associate & Clinical Head, Guru Jambeshwar University Science & Technology, Hisar
****Physiotherapist, AIIMS, New Delhi
Online published on 4 March, 2016.
Bell's palsy is a disorder of the facial nerve, which may begin with symptoms of pain in the mastoid region and produce full or partial paralysis of movement of one side of the face. The incidence of Bell palsy is 20 to 30 per 100,000 persons. There are peaks of incidence in the 30 to 50 age groups. Bell palsy is seen with almost equal frequency (ratio 46:54) in men & women. To date the effectiveness of facial nerve manipulation at stylomastoid foramen in Bell's palsy patients has not been compared in a randomized experimental clinical trial.
A randomized experimental clinical trial.
To find out & compare the effect of facial nerve manipulation at stylomastoid foramen and conventional treatment in Bell's palsy patients.
30 consecutive patients were randomly allocated into two groups with mean age (25–50) year, chief complaint of Bell's palsy. 10 male & 5 female patients were taken in each group.
Patients were treated 3 days a week for 3 weeks duration. All patients were referred to physical therapy by neurosurgeons of reputated hospitals. This study was done to measure pre and post effect of facial nerve manipulation at stylomastoid foramen in Bell's palsy patients.
Sample size calculations were performed on software package SPSS 17.00 version for windows. Mann Whitney U test & t-test with equal variance was applied to analyze the inter-group differences in HBGS, FDI-Physical function, FDI- Social-well being before and after performance of Facial Nerve Manipulation, Electrical Stimulation and Conventional Exercises. Data was analyzed at significant level of 95% (P<=0.05).
After 3 weeks of treatment there was significant improvement in individual rate of recovery group A then group B on HBGS, FDI- Physical function and FDI- Social-well being index.
Facial Nerve Manipulation technique at stylomastoid foramen is more effective than conventional treatment methods in improving HBGS, FDI- Physical function, FDI Social- Well being for Management of Bell's palsy.
House Brackmann's Grading Scale (HBGS), Facial Disability Index (FDI), Physical Function (PF), Social-Well Being (SWB)
